The Carthian Movement

The Revolution

You were politically radical in life. You believe that the society of the dead needs to change. You want to blow things up. You are holding a grudge against a vampire elder. You are, for all the terrible things you do, an idealist. You are afraid that nothing will ever change.

What They Do

The Carthian Movement uses the ideologies of the living to bring democracy to the dead. Anyone who disagrees with that gets their haven firebombed.

The condition of the vampire is, according to the Carthians, in stasis. Stasis is equivalent to certain destruction. Human political movements can gain power swiftly and effectively, and keep it, and as far as the Carthians can tell, they do it well. The Carthians offer a new deal to the neonate and the outcast, a new way of governing the Kindred without the self-serving aristocracies of the Invictus, with whom the Firebrands of the Revolution often come into conflict.

Some of these revolutionaries want to tear things down, while others believe in diplomacy. The Carthians run from knuckle-headed thugs with bats and knives to smooth-talking politicians who use the voice of the common vampire. They recruit from those Kindred who feel disenfranchised or wronged — and vampires very easily feel wronged. We can fix it, say the Carthians. We can bring the change that you wish to see in the night, and you will benefit, as will we all.

The Carthians promise upheaval, and in many ways are the change they wish to see, modifying their ideals on an almost nightly basis. The Carthians do not question the necessity of reform, but they are willing to question reforms themselves. Some nights, this makes them fractious…but on many more, it leaves them well prepared.

The Carthians promise real change — but into what? Carthian elders, their consciences worn down by their long Requiems, are appallingly dangerous, because they do not back down. They’re pragmatic monsters, but see themselves as part of something bigger and will make sacrifices for the future. They will suffer and inflict suffering to make Carthian Law the only law.

How they do it

Everything the Carthians do is dedicated towards the creation of a new vampire order. The traditions of vampire society have their uses, but the way the established covenants enforce them leaves a lot to be desired. The Carthians preach that all vampires are equal, but the fact is that some corpses are more equal than others. Nobody’s going to shed a red tear for a knight who follows her prince to the stake.

Since the Carthians use political systems adapted from modern ideologies among the living, it’s only natural for them to use the human radical groups they so resemble. Political groups, particularly radical groups with uncompromising views, split like crazy. The Carthians, with the powers of the dead and the application of a few drops of blood, can bring splinter cells under their power.

All the Carthians muck in — it’s fair to say that Carthians are probably the busiest vampires, always seeming to have a project, always looking for an opening. They aren’t, however, mindless zealots. Where the Invictus deal in intimidation and bribes, the Carthians are often the first to the bargaining table. Somehow, though, the deals they make always manage to favor the Revolution.

Carthians are often found in the governments of other covenants. Being open about their shared agendas makes them a peculiar type of honest. Other covenants, particularly those that don’t possess a specific political ideology, find that honesty makes the Firebrands the devil you know. The Ordo Dracul and the Circle of the Crone often think this way. For all that Carthian ideology sets them in conflict with existing governments, their reputed ideological purity makes them reliable. Their usefulness as part of the state in turn gives them a wedge to push their reforms.